What's life without pasta? I really don't want to know unless I happen to be on a weight control regimen and counting carbs and calories. That's when I realize lettuce is greatly overrated. But sometimes you just have to succumb to your temptations, and Jamie W and I had been meaning to try this place for a while. I think we got turned away at least twice before. We finally made it in and noticed right away that the wood-fired Neapolitan pizza was what most people appear to gorge on. It was no wonder because it looked good. However, we had pasta on the brain. Jamie went for the $24 Tagliatelle alla Bolognese, which looked to replace the pappardelle on the menu (photo: https://yelp.to/Ria0ys2-ZJ). Of course it was delicious as the familiar tomato-based meat sauce didn't fail to satisfy. I ordered the $21 Trofie al Pesto based on a faded recollection I had of the dish in the Cinque Terre on a terrace overlooking the little harbor in Vernazza.over twenty years prior. The execution was exactly the same because it's a standard dish in Ligurian cuisine (photo: https://yelp.to/jYzmK688-w). Trofie is a thin and twisty pasta, and when the pesto is done right as it was here, it sticks to the pasta easily. Good pasta. Worth the calories. FOOD - 4 stars...handmade pasta well executed AMBIANCE - 4 stars...spirited atmosphere in here SERVICE - 4 stars...our server was first-rate though the host in front was rather curt TOTAL - 4 stars...pasta fix satisfied RELATED - Exploring Berkeley? Here's my collection of places I've tried and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2CbVh8u read more